#brentid weevil

[pillarsalt]

LGBeetles

[drhoz]

#2484 - Lasiorhynchus barbicornis - New Zealand Giraffe Weevil

Possibly Aotearoa's most ridiculous beetle. Certainly the longest.

Māori names include pepeke nguturoa "long-beaked beetle", tūwhaipapa, and tūwhaitara, the latter two after the Māori god of newly-made canoes, because its canoe-like body and upturned rostrum resemble a waka and prow.

The binomial means "densely hairy rostrum" "bearded horn" and refers to the dense black beard underneath the male's snout, or possibly to its hairy antennae.

A Brentid weevil first described by the Danish entomologist Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775, from specimens collected by Joseph Banks in 1769 on Cook's first voyage to New Zealand. He described the smaller females as a different species, Curculio assimilis, but suspected they were the males of what he named Curculio barbicornis (later moved to its own genus, Lasiorhynchus). He got that backwards - in this species the males can be much larger than the females, and compete fiercely, although smaller males can sneak past and mate with the females right under the nose of the battling rivals.

The larval weevils tunnel into wood for at least two years before emerging, feeding on fungus growing on the walls, and live for only a few weeks as adults. They're reasonably common on the North Island, but less so on the South.

Whanganui Regional Museum, New Zealand

[jupiterswasphouse]

[PHOTOS TAKEN: JUNE 28TH, 2024 | Image IDs: Two photos of a small brown and yellow Brentid weevil on the corner of a white metal building /End IDs.]

[scrumpyfan43]

Found an oak timberworm weevil in the kitchen

[ecuadorlife]

Straight-snouted weevil, Brentidae by Andreas Kay Via Flickr: from Ecuador: www.youtube.com/AndreasKay

[atalwildman-blog]

Brentid Weevil (at Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary)

[ecuadorlife]

Straight-snouted weevil, Brentus volvulus? Brentidae by Andreas Kay Via Flickr: from Ecuador: www.youtube.com/AndreasKay

[ecuadorlife]

Straight-snouted weevil, Brentus sp., Brentidae by Andreas Kay Via Flickr: from Ecuador: www.youtube.com/AndreasKay

[ecuadorlife]

Straight-snouted Weevil, Estenorhinus sp., Curculionidae by Andreas Kay Via Flickr: from Ecuador: www.flickr.com/andreaskay/albums

[ecuadorlife]

Brentid beetle, Brentidae by Andreas Kay Via Flickr: from Ecuador: www.flickr.com/andreaskay/albums